Molly Keeps Getting Sick Again And Again

[zinki.monga]

Few days back my Molly had a pop eye and fungus in its eye, I treated it with Tetracycline. After 2-3 days of treatment it again got the fungus, treated again. Now this is the third time it has got the fungus again and I am tired now of putting medicine, removing the carbon filter changing the water again and again.

Edit: This is a 10gal tank with 6 fishes in it, I keep it very clean. Do the gravel cleaning and water change every week. All the other fishes are perfectly fine, also all of them including molly are eating well and behaving completely healthy.

Can any one please help me!!!

Thanks

 

[zinki.monga]

Anybody please........
I am a newbie so really need your help!!!!

 

[Colin_T]

Have you checked the water quality for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate & PH?
How long has the tank been set up for?
How long have the fish been in the tank?
How much water do you change when you do the water changes?
How often do you clean the filter and how do you clean it?

Tetracycline is an antibiotic and does nothing to fungal infections.

When you say the fish had fungus on its eye, was the eye cloudy, or did it have white fluffy stuff growing off it? Fungus is generally white and fluffy, but poor water quality and minor bacterial infections will cause the eyes to develop a cloudy white appearance. Poor water quality is the most common cause and could be brought about by too much feeding, lack of water changes and gravel cleans, or using antibiotics in the tank.
The tetracycline will have wiped out the beneficial filter bacteria and you probably have an ammonia problem now.
I would suggest you reduce the feeding to once every couple of days and do some daily 50% water changes using dechlorinated water with a similar temperature & PH to the tank. If the problem is still there in a week then try a different medication, preferably something like “Waterlife Protozin” or “Wardleys Promethyasul”.

If you have a picture of the fish we can see if it is fungus or just a cloudy eye.

 

[zinki.monga]

Thanks for your reply Colin_T!!

I got the water parameters checked and everything else is normal except nitrates, they are very high. The pet store employee gave me 'Easy Balance', but this seems to be something you would add so that you dont have to do frequent water changes. I am going to do water changes for a few days.
My tank has been set up for almost 3 months and most of fish have been there for last 2 months.
I change 25-30% of water every week.
I cleaned the filter 2 weeks back for the first time since I have set up my tank. I just rinsed the filter media with the water from the tank and cleaned the plastic body with a brush and rinsed it with tap water.

The first time it had cloudy and pop eye but yes this time has some white fluffy stuff on its eye, which looks better than what it looked yesterday.

 

[ThePiggy]

When you clean the filter, it's important not to use tap water. The chemicals in the water will kill the beneficial bacteria living in your filter. All that needs to be done is a light swish with tank water in a bucket.

It is a good idea to do daily water changes of 50% and keep it up until your nitrates are lower. Do you have a hospital tank? It would be good to put the sick fish in quarantine to minimize risk of infecting your other fish. This will also allow you to waste less medication on a big tank.

 

[zinki.monga]

I did rinse the mechanical, carbon and biological filter with the tank water, just rinsed the outer plastic body with tap water, thought that would be okay. Let me know if this should be avoided also. I dont have any hospital tank set up right now.

Thanks!!

 

[ThePiggy]

It's preferable that you don't rinse it in tap water. Is it possible for you to get a 5 gallon bucket or something like that? You can put some gravel, a plant and an airstone in it. Fill it with water and add dechlorinator. Let the water sit until tomorrow evening to get to the correct temperature, or use a small aquarium heater if you have one. Acclimate your molly to the water slowly by floating it in a small cup or plastic bag in the hospital tank for 20 minutes, pour some water out of the bag/cup and add some water from the bucket to it. Continue that process 3 times, and then you can add the molly to the hospital tank. Now that it's alone, you can treat it with the anti-fungal medication.

 

[Colin_T]

Rinsing the filter media, (sponge, noodles, carbon, etc) in a bucket of tank water is fine, as is washing the filter casing and motor under the tap water. The sponge, etc is what holds most of the good bacteria. The filter case and motor don't hold much bacteria at all, and certainly not enough to cause any problems if you wash them under the tap.

Carbon should be replaced every month and should be removed if you use medications in the tank because it is designed to absorb chemicals. If you had carbon in the filter when you treated the fish with Tetracycline, then it would have absorbed some or all of the drug and prevented it from working properly.
Most people only use carbon to remove chemicals after they have treated a tank. However, doing daily water changes for a week will remove/ dilute any medication and is better for the fish.
Carbon will also absorb plant fertilisers.

Don't worry about moving the molly into a quarantine tank yet. The stress of catching her and moving her to another tank can make things worse. If you have really high nitrates then just do daily 50% water changes and gravel cleans until it comes down. Then there is a big possibility the problem (cloudy eye) will clear up by itself.
If you get the nitrates down and the fish hasn't recovered after a week, then either move her to a quarantine tank/ container for treatment, or just treat the tank. But clean the tank up first, and only treat if you have to.

 

[zinki.monga]

Thanks for all your suggestions and help. I actually did the water changes and am feeding them once in every 2 days and the white spot in Molly's eye just disappeared )
Will keep an eye for anything unusual and keep ya all posted!!

Cheers!